ISTANBUL -- The Linea lower-medium sedan will become Fiat brand's second best-selling model worldwide by 2012.

"When production peaks in all of the five plants, the new Linea will sell over 280,000 units a year, becoming Fiat’s second best-selling model behind the Grande Punto," Fiat Automobiles CEO Luca De Meo said at the car's launch here today.

Last year, the Panda minicar was Fiat brand's second best-selling model with 237,200 units, behind the Grande Punto's 344,000 sales.

This year Fiat plans to sell 360,000 Grande Puntos and 250,000 Pandas.

Fiat's Turkish joint venture, Turk Otomobil Fabrikasi (Tofas), is producing the Linea, which will go on sale in Turkey in the next few days.

Linea cars also will be bulit in Brazil, Russia, India and China. The Linea is derived from the Grande Punto small car.